In a strategic move to re-boot its brokerage presence in the Triangle, the Cassidy Turley commercial real estate firm has reached a deal to acquire Synergy Commercial Advisors, a boutique real estate firm in Morrisville.

In the six years since Rich Harris and his four partners started Synergy, the firm has grown to become one of the 10 largest commercial real estate brokerage firms in the region with a client base that includes the American Tobacco Campus in Durham and Alexandria Real Estate Equities’ portfolio of lab buildings in Research Triangle Park.

Terms of the deal with Washington, D.C.-based Cassidy Turley were not disclosed, but Harris will become the new managing principal for Cassidy Turley’s office in Raleigh overseeing all of its operations, including its capital markets, property management, tenant representation and development services staff.

"It’s a long ride from four individuals at an executive suite in 2008 scrapping for business," Harris says. "Without their energy, support and investment along the way, Synergy would not have grown into the well-respected boutique that it is today."

David Finger, the former managing principal for Cassidy Turley's Raleigh office, will remain with the company as leader of its local capital markets practice working with buyers and sellers of large office and industrial properties.

Cassidy Turley’s Raleigh office has in the past three years lost six of its top producers from the Raleigh office who left to join the competing Cushman & Wakefield/Thalhimer firm.

“We’ve had a lot of movement over there that last couple of years,” admits Doug Brandon, regional managing principal for Cassidy Turley’s southeast division, “and we’ve been looking for a strategic-type partner. With Rich’s strong group and the energy they bring to us, it seems like all the puzzle pieces fit nicely.

"He has a very aggressive group in his office that knows how to get deals done," Brandon says.

Harris says the two sides had been talking about an acquisition for about two years. "We've had a lot of people approach us in the past, but I think this process with Cassidy Turley was one we felt very comfortable with. Our visions resonated quite a bit and at the highest levels of the company."

Harris adds that Synergy's office lease in the Perimeter One building in Morrisville conveniently expired July 31, so his whole team will be immediately consolidating with Cassidy Turley’s staff on Edwards Mill Road in Raleigh.